Chapter 14: Buffalo

64       parking lot of Tops supermarket in Buffalo  “Buffalo Shooting: Ten Dead in Racially Motivated Attack at New York State Store,” BBC News, May 15, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61452958.

64       nearly four hours  Emma Bowman et al., “What We Know So Far About the Buffalo Mass Shooting,” NPR, May 16, 2022, www.npr.org/2022/05/15/1099028397/buffalo-shooting-what-we-know; Christina Maxouris et al., “Authorities Say the Suspected Buffalo Supermarket Shooter Traveled from Hours Away: Here’s What We Know,” CNN, June 2, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/05/14/us/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-what-we-know/index.html; and  “Buffalo Shooting: Ten Dead in Racially Motivated Attack at New York State Store,” www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61452958.

64       recently graduated high school  Dan Frosch et al., “Buffalo Shooting Suspect’s 673-Page Diary Reveals Descent into Racist Extremism,” Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/buffalo-shooting-supermarket-673-page-diary-reveals-suspects-descent-into-racist-extremism-11652814938.

64       majority-White hometown of Conklin Eighty-nine percent of Conklin’s residents identified as “White alone, not Hispanic or Latino” in the 2020 U.S. census. U.S. Census Bureau, “P1 | Race: 2020 Decennial Census, Conklin Town, Broome County, New York,” 2020 Decennial Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File, accessed August 19, 2025,

data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALPL2020.P1?g=060XX00US3600717772.

64       a civil engineer like his parents  Frosch et al., “Buffalo Shooting Suspect’s 673-Page Diary Reveals Descent into Racist Extremism,” https://www.wsj.com/us-news/buffalo-shooting-supermarket-673-page-diary-reveals-suspects-descent-into-racist-extremism-11652814938

64       exposure to great replacement theory online  Frosch et al., “Buffalo Shooting Suspect’s 673-Page Diary Reveals Descent into Racist Extremism,” https://www.wsj.com/us-news/buffalo-shooting-supermarket-673-page-diary-reveals-suspects-descent-into-racist-extremism-11652814938.

64       largest Black population of any city near his home  Frosch et al., “Buffalo Shooting Suspect’s 673-Page Diary Reveals Descent into Racist Extremism, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/buffalo-shooting-supermarket-673-page-diary-reveals-suspects-descent-into-racist-extremism-11652814938.

64       the East Side because it had the highest percentage Mark Morales et al., “Buffalo Grocery Store Mass Shooter Apologizes for Racist Attack and Receives Sentence of Life in Prison,” CNN, February 15, 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/us/buffalo-tops-grocery-shooting-payton-gendron-state-sentencing/index.html.

64       At around 2:30 P.M., Gendron left his car  “Buffalo Shooting: Ten Dead in Racially Motivated Attack at New York State Store,” www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61452958.

64       wore body armor and a military helmet  Nicole Acevedo et al., “10 Killed, 3 Wounded in Racist Shooting at Buffalo Supermarket, Officials Say,” NBC News, May 14, 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-leaves-7-dead-law-enforcement-source-rcna28883.

64       carried a black Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle  Craig Whitlock et al., “Massacre Suspect Said He Modified Bushmaster Rifle to Hold More Ammunition,” Washington Post, May 15, 2022, wapo.st/3WrUVU7.

64       “Here’s your reparations, SYGAOWN ”  “Buffalo Shooter’s Weapons Covered in White Supremacist Messaging,” Anti-Defamation League (ADL), May 15, 2022, www.adl.org/resources/article/buffalo-shooters-weapons-covered-white-supremacist-messaging; and   “Buffalo Shooter’s Gun Littered with Racist Language,” TMZ, May 17, 2022, www.tmz.com/2022/05/17/buffalo-shooter-gun-racist-writing/.

64       “Anders Breivik” and “2083”  “Buffalo Shooter’s Weapons Covered in White Supremacist Messaging,” www.adl.org/resources/article/buffalo-shooters-weapons-covered-white-supremacist-messaging; and “Buffalo Shooter’s Gun Littered with Racist Language,” www.tmz.com/2022/05/17/buffalo-shooter-gun-racist-writing/.

64       “Jon Earnest” “Buffalo Shooter’s Weapons Covered in White Supremacist Messaging,” www.adl.org/resources/article/buffalo-shooters-weapons-covered-white-supremacist-messaging.

64       convinced “every Jew” was planning “a genocide of the European race” John Earnest, manifesto, April 27, 2019, 1.

64       at a synagogue in Poway, California  Ray Sanchez and Stella Chan, “California Synagogue Shooter Sentenced to Life in Prison Without the Possibility of Parole,” CNN, September 30, 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/us/poway-synagogue-shooter-sentencing/index.html.

64       “Spics and niggers are useful puppets for the Jew” . . . Earnest, manifesto, 4.

64       Gendron put on a head-mounted camera  Nicole Acevedo et al., “10 Killed, 3 Wounded in Racist Shooting at Buffalo Supermarket, Officials Say,” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-leaves-7-dead-law-enforcement-source-rcna28883.

64       “Just got to go for it”  Gendron quoted in Shimon Prokupecz et al., “What We Know About Buffalo Supermarket Shooting Suspect Payton Gendron,” CNN, June 2, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/05/15/us/payton-gendron-buffalo-shooting-suspect-what-we-know/index.html.

65       shot four people in the supermarket’s parking lot  “Buffalo Shooting: Ten Dead in Racially Motivated Attack at New York State Store,” www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61452958; and Acevedo et al., “10 Killed, 3 Wounded in Racist Shooting at Buffalo Supermarket, Officials Say,” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-leaves-7-dead-law-enforcement-source-rcna28883.

65       fired at eight more people inside the store  Prokupecz et al., “What We Know About Buffalo Supermarket Shooting Suspect Payton Gendron,” www.cnn.com/2022/05/15/us/payton-gendron-buffalo-shooting-suspect-what-we-know/index.html.

65       retired from the Buffalo Police Department  Stefan Becket, “Aaron Salter Jr., Security Guard Killed in Buffalo Shooting, Hailed as a Hero for Confronting Gunman,” CBS News, May 15, 2022, www.cbsnews.com/news/aaron-salter-jr-security-guard-buffalo-shooting-victim/; and “Buffalo Supermarket Shooter Pleads Guilty to Murder, Domestic Terrorism Motivated by Hate,” ABC7 Los Angeles, November 28, 2022, abc7.com/post/buffalo-shooting-tops-supermarket-racist/12503294/.

65       shot back, killing Salter  Becket, “Aaron Salter Jr., Security Guard Killed in Buffalo Shooting, Hailed as a Hero for Confronting Gunman,” www.cbsnews.com/news/aaron-salter-jr-security-guard-buffalo-shooting-victim/.

65       noticed that the person happened to be White. “Sorry!” Carolyn Thompson and Michael Balsamo, “Buffalo Shooter Targeted Black Neighborhood, Officials Say,” Associated Press (AP) News, May 15, 2022, apnews.com/article/buffalo-shooting-0475a5bd971d23a4e0a13ef840650bb1.

65       barricaded the door with a massive desk  Aya Elamroussi, “How Some Tops Shoppers Found Safety in the Store’s Break Room During the Shooting,” CNN, May 19, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/05/19/us/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-thursday/index.html.

65       saw them and shot at them through the coolers  Elamroussi, “How Some Tops Shoppers Found Safety in the Store’s Break Room During the Shooting,” www.cnn.com/2022/05/19/us/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-thursday/index.html.

65       talked Gendron down  Aaron Besecker, “‘We Have Bodies Down Here’: Police Radio Transmissions Reveal Grim Scene at Saturday’s Killing,” Buffalo News, May 14, 2022, buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-courts/we-have-bodies-down-here-police-radio-transmissions-reveal-grim-scene-at-saturdays-mass-killing/article_2335d1d0-d3c0-11ec-8bc0-4f348962ee1e.html.

65       prison for the rest of his life  Carolyn Thompson and Jennifer Peltz, “White Supremacist Gets Life in Prison for Buffalo Massacre,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 15, 2023, apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-new-york-buffalo-crime-terrorism-a13cf95d1fbecfa64571de87d2ccfa8a.

65       shot thirteen people  Acevedo et al., “10 Killed, 3 Wounded in Racist Shooting at Buffalo Supermarket, Officials Say,” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-leaves-7-dead-law-enforcement-source-rcna28883.

65       They included . . .  Bob D’Angelo, “Buffalo Supermarket Shooting: Here’s What We Know,” KIRO 7, May 15, 2022, www.kiro7.com/news/trending/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-heres-what-we-know/W2QUX3ALRRDSVAXQQU7YEUZ7RE/.

65       In Buffalo, the elderly . . . El Paso too  See   “El Paso Shooting Victims: Know Their names, Learn Their Stories,” El Paso Times, April 20, 2025, www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2025/04/20/el-paso-shooting-victims-know-their-names-learn-their-stories/83123603007/.

65       posted his 180-page manifesto  Acevedo et al., “10 Killed, 3 Wounded in Racist Shooting at Buffalo Supermarket, Officials Say,” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/buffalo-supermarket-mass-shooting-leaves-7-dead-law-enforcement-source-rcna28883.

65       “We must crush immigration and . . .”  Payton Gendron, manifesto, May 12, 2022, 2.

65       “It is not just a matter of our prosperity . . .” Gendron, manifesto, 1.

66       “that White birth rates must change”  Gendron, manifesto, 1.

66       “in the western world” . . .  Gendron, manifesto, 1.

66       a policy blueprint prepared in advance Roger Severino, “Department of Health and Human Services,” in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, eds. Paul Dans and Steven Groves (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2023), static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, 449–451.

66       Project 2025 was published on April 21, 2023  “Project 2025 Publishes Comprehensive Policy Guide, ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,’” Heritage Foundation, April 21, 2023, www.heritage.org/press/project-2025-publishes-comprehensive-policy-guide-mandate-leadership-the-conservative-promise.

66       cost the Heritage Foundation $22 million Jonathan Swan, “Paleoconservative or Moderate? Questions for Staffing the Next G.O.P. White House,” New York Times, December 1, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/us/politics/heritage-foundation-2025-questionnaire.html?smid=url-share.

66       Two-thirds of the contributors had worked . . .  Andrew Prokop, “The Roadmap: Where Project 2025 Might Take America,” Vox, July 30, 2024, www.vox.com/politics/360318/project-2025-trump-policies-abortion-divorce.

66       a son of Colombian immigrants  Alison Kodjak, “Civil Rights Chief At HHS Defends the Right to Refuse Care on Religious Grounds,” All Things Considered, NPR, March 20, 2018, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/20/591833000/civil-rights-chief-at-hhs-defends-the-right-to-refuse-care-on-religious-grounds.

66       directed the Office of Civil Rights  “Roger Severino,” Heritage Foundation, accessed January 24, 2025, www.heritage.org/staff/roger-severino.

66       inhibiting women seeking abortion Kodjak, “Civil Rights Chief At HHS Defends The Right To Refuse Care on Religious Grounds," www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/20/591833000/civil-rights-chief-at-hhs-defends-the-right-to-refuse-care-on-religious-grounds; and Emmarie Huetteman, “At New Health Office, ‘Civil Rights’ Means Doctors’ Right To Say No To Patients,” Washington Post, March 5, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/at-new-health-office-civil-rights-means-doctors-right-to-say-no-to-patients/2018/03/05/0f0149ce-2073-11e8-946c-9420060cb7bd_story.html.

66       “‘all Americans from conception to natural death’”  Severino, “Department of Health and Human Services,” static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, 449.

66       “under President Biden” . . “lost its way”  Severino, “Department of Health and Human Services,” static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, 449,

66       “U.S. life expectancy, instead of returning . . .” Severino, “Department of Health and Human Services,” static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, 449.

66       recommended the mass surveillance of women’s pregnancies  See Severino, “Department of Health and Human Services,” static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, 455.

66       used Mother’s Day to propose a federal database  Léonie Chao-Fong, “Katie Britt Proposes Federal Database to Collect Data on Pregnant People,” The Guardian, May 11, 2024, www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/11/katie-britt-proposes-federal-database-to-collect-data-on-pregnant-people.

66       had their pregnancies surveilled by the government Kaya Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” The Dial, January 25, 2023, www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

66–67 Fears of declining birth rates and aging population prompted . . .  Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

67       “Those people want to root out Turks” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, March 8, 2008, quoted in Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

67       “Have at least three children . . .”  Erdoğan, quoted in Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

67       was worried that Turkey’s Kurds . . . would replace the Turks Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

67       forecast . . . would become the majority population  Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

67       comprised no more than 20 percent of Turkey’s population  As of August 2025, Kurds make up “approximately 18-20% of the Turkish population.” “Country Policy and Information Note: Kurds, Turkey, July 2025 (Accessible),” GOV.UK, last updated August 8, 2025, accessed August 19, 2025, www.gov.uk/government/publications/turkey-country-policy-and-information-notes/country-policy-and-information-note-kurds-turkey-october-2023-accessible.

67       the death rates of infants in the Kurdish eastern regions  “While the TurkStat [Turkish Statistical Institute] figures showed in 2019 that the average infant mortality rate of 65 provinces was 8.3 per thousand, this rate was 11.4 percent for the 16 Kurdish-majority provinces.” “‘Turkey’s Kurdish-Majority Provinces Disadvantaged in Every Sphere of Healthcare,’” Bianet, February 21, 2022, bianet.org/haber/turkey-s-kurdish-majority-provinces-disadvantaged-in-every-sphere-of-healthcare-258026.

67       “This is unacceptable . . .”  Erdoğan, October 19, 2022, quoted in Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology.

67       Xi Jinping's administration has likewise urged . . .  “China cuts Uighur births with IUDs, abortion, sterilization,” AP News, June 29, 2020, apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-international-news-weekend-reads-china-health-269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c. 

67       “this crisis of mass immigration and sub-replacement fertility . . .”  Gendron, manifesto, 2.

67       “This is WHITE GENOCIDE”  Gendron, manifesto, 2.

67       listed several people who inspired his terrorist attack  Gendron, manifesto, 9.

67       neo-Nazi, a fascist, a White supremacist, a racist, an antisemite  Gendron, manifesto, 7, 8.

67       “all JEWS to HELL!”  Gendron, manifesto, 7.

67       “non-white Hispanics are also replacers in the United States” Gendron, manifesto, 12.

67       “mob rule and the mob itself is ruled by our enemies”  Gendron, manifesto, 11.

67–68 the “invaders” and the “replacers”  Gendron, manifesto, 2, 4.

68       “are an obvious, visible, and large group of replacers”  Gendron, manifesto, 5.

68       “the replacers that as long as the White man lives . . .”  Gendron, manifesto, 4.

68       “technically belongs to its native people” Gendron, manifesto, 8.

68       “the United States now belongs to Whites . . .”  Gendron, manifesto, 8.

68       “the same thing applies with other White countries . . .”  Gendron, manifesto, 8.

68       sixty million Latino Americans . . . fifty million Black Americans . . .  See “Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024,” available at National Population by Characteristics: 2020-2024, United States Census Bureau, June 2025, www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-national-detail.html#v2023.

68       compared Tucker Carlson’s rhetoric to Payton Gendron’s  For examples, see Paul Farhi, “Conservative Media Is Familiar with Buffalo Suspect’s Alleged ‘Theory,’” Washington Post, May 15, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/05/15/buffalo-suspect-great-replacement-theory-conservative-media/; Connor Perrett and Kieran Press-Reynolds, “The Racist ‘Replacement Theory’ Tied to the Buffalo Shootings Has Increasingly Become a Right Wing Media Rallying Call,” Business Insider, May 16, 2022, www.businessinsider.com/buffalo-shooting-suspect-conspiracy-replacement-tucker-carlson-fox-news; and Bess Levin, “Tucker Carlson Attempts to Distance Himself From Buffalo Shooting Suspect Who Basically Spewed His Racist Commentary Verbatim,” Vanity Fair, May 17, 2022, www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/tucker-carlson-buffalo-shooting-payton-gendron.

68       “invited by the state and corporate entities . . .” Gendron, manifesto, 1.

68       “You’ve heard a lot about the great replacement theory . . .”  “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, May 17, 2022, accessed via Internet Archive, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220518_000000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/469.2/end/609.4, 0:00–0:07.

68       “Here’s what we do know for a fact . . .” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, May 17, 2022, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220518_000000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/469.2/end/609.4, 0:08–0:14.

68       played clips of Democratic politicians saying . . . “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, May 17, 2022, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220518_000000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/469.2/end/609.4, 0:42–2:20; and “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, May 17, 2022, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220518_000000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/540/end/600,0:00–0:47.

68       “The great replacement theory is coming from the left . . .”  “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, May 17, 2022, accessed via Internet Archive, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220518_000000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/780/end/840, 0:51–0:55.

68       “The great replacement? Yeah . . .”  “Tucker Carlson Gives a Full Endorsement of the White Supremacist ‘Great Replacement’ Conspiracy Theory,” Media Matters For America, video, July 19, 2022, www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-gives-full-endorsement-white-supremacist-great-replacement-conspiracy, 8:28–8:32.

69       the founder of the neo-Nazi website “Andrew Anglin,” Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), accessed December 12, 2024, www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/andrew-anglin.

69       a site that radicalized the Buffalo shooter  Gendron referenced The Daily Stormer in his manifesto. Gendron, manifesto, 13.

69       “literally our greatest ally” Andrew Anglin, December 18, 2016, quoted in Karen Yourish, et al., “Inside the Apocalyptic Worldview of ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,’” New York Times, April 30, 2022, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/30/us/tucker-carlson-tonight.html.

69       “Demographic Countdown” on its home page  Daily Stormer homepage, accessed August 20, 2025.

69       “These wombs belong to us, not the idiot creatures . . .”  Andrew Anglin, “Stupid Whores Want to Spend Time Guzzling Cock Rather Than Producing Children,” Daily Stormer, August 7, 2018.